With this, Liu Yongqing — the wife of Chinese leader Hu Jintao — would in theory be unable to head a government investment arm. Not that such flagrant displays happen elsewhere in the region.

Malaysian author Xeus says that her book Dark City an entertaining and creditable collection of short stories that draws on the dark and unsavoury sides of human nature festering in urban life - has been banned by the Singapore National Library.

Hundreds of local women who signed up for the chance to attend a matchmaking party with 11 single or divorced men visiting town for a week from the United States have had their hearts broken by city officials.

China’s party mouthpiece hijacked by spammers:
“What happens if you click through to the ‘pregnant pussy’ link, for example? Will you see an obese feline? Or what? It turns out that it leads to a ‘Working’ in China page inside People’s Daily Online…

“Some rather astonishing changes took place in the Chinese media landscape in the 1990s with the advent of digital technology and the sudden availability of a vast number of bootleg foreign entertainment disks. The rapid and chaotic influx of so much foreign material into average Chinese homes caught the Chinese government off guard, and necessitated certain rapid and ad hoc adjustments to the general policy of combating “spiritual pollution”.

“China’s economy has become so complicated that central government administrative measures can only be guidelines. Local governments can design the implementation rules to circumvent the spirit of the central government tightening measures.”